The Inheritance
A Riddle for the Logical Mind
Three verses. One logical answer. Can you find it?
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Psalm 115:16 (KJV) The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD [Yahuah]’s: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.
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Matthew 5:5 (KJV) Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
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John 3:13 (KJV) And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
Read all three. Lay them side by side. What must be true?
The redeemed say where they will reign.
Revelation 5:10 (KJV) And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
- The heavens are Yahuah's; the earth He gave to men. — Psalm 115:16
- The meek inherit the earth. — Matthew 5:5
- No man has ascended to heaven. — John 3:13
The inheritance is the earth, received at the resurrection.
Why It Matters
The church teaches that believers go to heaven when they die and live there forever. The Psalm settles the property lines: "The heaven, even the heavens, are Yahuah's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men" (Psalm 115:16). Yahushua named the inheritance: "the meek... shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5), quoting Psalm 37:11. And He said plainly, "no man hath ascended up to heaven" (John 3:13). Peter added that David "is not ascended into the heavens" (Acts 2:34). The promise is the earth, and no one has gone up to collect a different one.
The promise began with Abraham. Yahuah gave him the land "for ever" (Genesis 13:15), yet he died "not having received the promises" (Hebrews 11:13). Paul calls him "heir of the world" (Romans 4:13). A promise of land that was never received is a promise still waiting. It waits for the resurrection, not for a death that sends the soul elsewhere.
The heaven-at-death teaching rests on the immortal soul (see Riddle 8). Greek thought taught the soul's escape from the material world. The church carried that hope into its hymns and funerals, and "going home to glory" replaced the Hebrew hope of the restored earth.
This matters because the Law itself is built around inheritance. The Jubilee returned every man to his land (Leviticus 25:10). It restored what was lost and cancelled what was owed. That is the shape of the hope. When the believer's future is moved to the clouds, the earth becomes disposable, the Jubilee becomes a curiosity, and the resurrection becomes a footnote. Scripture runs the other way. Creation itself waits to be "delivered from the bondage of corruption" (Romans 8:21).
Revelation does not send the redeemed up. It brings the city down. John saw "a new heaven and a new earth," and the holy city "coming down from God out of heaven," and heard that "the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them" (Revelation 21:1-3). The inheritance is restored on earth.